The new year brings resolutions of diets, better work habits and plans for exercise. For Student Government, the new year is a time to keep pushing initiatives and working for student needs, and SG President Stuart Watkins and SG Vice President Martina Scheuermann said they each have personal goals for the semester. ‘Improving communication is … the biggest hurdle for SG administration,’ Scheuermann said. ‘We have tried to get creative with how we communicate with students.’ Watkins agreed SG has changed the way it communicates with students. Facebook, Twitter, weekly broadcast e-mails and straight talk on buses and on campus are some of the methods SG has implemented. Scheuermann said SG will also start posting more information on the bulletin board in the Live Oak Lounge in the Union with updated SG happenings. ‘There’s always room for improvement,’ Watkins said. ‘It was one of the first times in years that we allowed students to have input on Groovin’ on the Grounds. We’ve got to continue to keep allowing students to have that same input.’ Watkins and Scheuermann have completed only 14 of 33 items on their election pushcard, but they said many plans are in progress, including extending library hours the Saturday before midterms, providing more ATMs on campus and putting more recycling bins in residential halls and in Tiger Stadium. ‘We don’t look at it as though we have 2 1/2 months left,’ Watkins said. ‘We were elected to work from start to finish, so we definitely plan to continue that.’ SG has been working with the LSU Police Department and LSU Residential Life to complete plans for more security cameras around campus. Other upcoming plans for the semester include composting waste from 459 Commons, a sports club calendar and changing graduation fees for the 2010 Class Gift Project. SG is also planning to host every Southeastern Conference SG’s president, vice president and staff members for a weekend conference. Watkins said each school will present ideas that have worked for their respective universities.
‘It’s a great way for us to collaborate and bring back to LSU some ideas that have worked at other campuses,’ Watkins said. The Senate also has big plans for the spring semester. Speaker of the Senate Tyler Martin said the Senate completed plans set for last semester and will start this year with a clean slate. ‘With budget cuts, we’re going to try to soften the blow for students,’ Martin said. Programs that normally get funding from University departments might experience funding losses, Martin said. He said he would like to see more groups come forward for the Senate to fund, but funds can only be allocated to groups if they’re presented to the Senate. Watkins said the University’s recent budget cuts will affect students more than in the past. The University slashed $12.7 million from its operating budget in response to mid-year budget cuts, according to a Jan. 8 budget update from Chancellor Michael Martin. ‘As an everyday student, you weren’t going to see the effects on campus,’ Watkins said. ‘Now things are becoming a little bit more tight, and you’re going to feel the crunch.’ —- Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]